- South Africa: Labour Unions Urge Workers to Shun Anti-Migrant Protests
Source: US News & World Report
“South Africa’s biggest labour unions on Wednesday urged workers not to participate in anti-immigrant protests that have seized the country, and said they could face consequences if they skip work to attend. South Africa is on edge ahead of a June 30 deadline which anti-immigrant groups have given for all undocumented foreigners to leave the country. Protests and potential civil unrest are expected, after weeks of sometimes violent xenophobic attacks. Four major unions including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which represents around 2 million people, said in a statement that workers would not be protected if they do not go to work on June 30. … ‘Removing foreign nationals from workplaces, communities or public spaces will not reopen factories, repair municipalities, strengthen public healthcare or create sustainable jobs,’ said the unions COSATU, FEDUSA, SAFTU and NACTU.” (06/17/26)
- US DOJ tries to block environmental lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI
Source: United Press International
“The Department of Justice is trying to quash a lawsuit against a power plant that supports an xAI data center and is arguing that the turbines are essential to national security. The suit, filed by the NAACP and several environmental groups against Elon Musk’s xAI, alleges that a power plant in Southaven, Miss., is operating without permits and violates the Clean Air Act. The plant powers the xAI Colossus 2 data center, which is over the state line in Memphis, Tenn. Colossus 2 supports the Grok artificial intelligence bot. The NAACP alleges that the power plant runs 57 turbines with no pollution controls, making it one of the biggest single industrial sources of smog-forming nitrogen oxide in the United States and a significant source of other harmful air pollutants like particulate matter and formaldehyde, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups like children, older adults and low-income or minority households.” (06/17/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/06/17/doj-elon-musk-xai-naacp/9421781703391/
- US retail sales up a strong 0.9% in May
Source: Seattle Times
“Shoppers stepped up their spending in May and surpassed expectations as temperatures warmed and gasoline prices cooled. Retail sales rose 0.9%, up from a revised 0.4% gain in April, according to new Commerce Department data released Wednesday. Sales got a boost from generous government tax refunds in both April and May, though economists say that cash cushion is starting to fade. Excluding sales at gas stations, retail sales in May rose 0.7%. Spending was broad-based. Business at clothing, accessory and furniture stores all posted increases. Online sales rose 1.5%. There were a few weak spots. Electronics and appliance stores and department stores both registered slight declines.” (06/17/26)
- Somaliland: No Talks to Establish Israeli Military Base, Defence Minister Says
Source: US News & World Report
“There is no Israeli military presence in Somaliland and no talks about Israel opening a base there, Somaliland’s Defence Minister Mohamed Yusuf Ali told Reuters on Wednesday. Speaking on the sidelines of a business conference in Tel Aviv, he said Israel was training Somaliland’s military and police, but dismissed reports that Israel was in negotiations to establish a military base in the territory as ‘rumours.’ Michael Lotem, Israel’s ambassador to Somaliland, declined to comment. … Israel recognised Somaliland as an independent state last December, the first country to formally do so, in a move Somalia rejected and termed a ‘deliberate attack’ on its sovereignty.” (06/17/26)
- Trump cancels hearing for replacement intel chief Clayton
Source: Semafor
“Jay Clayton won’t be sitting for his confirmation hearing today to be President Donald Trump’s permanent director of national intelligence, after Trump said in an early morning Truth Social post that he wants Clayton’s replacement confirmed as the top US attorney in Manhattan first. The abrupt move is sure to rankle Senate Republicans, who moved quickly to schedule Clayton’s hearing to confirm him — and clear the way for passage of an extension of a key surveillance tool that lapsed as Democrats protested Trump’s pick of Bill Pulte for acting DNI. It also guarantees that the surveillance law won’t be renewed anytime soon. Trump also reiterated his demand that Republicans’ voter ID bill, the SAVE America Act, be approved along with the surveillance law despite Senate Majority Leader John Thune saying that can’t happen.” (06/17/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/17/2026/trump-cancels-hearing-for-replacement-intel-chief-clayton
- Philippines: Senate president removed ahead of his Duterte’s impeachment trial
Source: ABC News
“A leadership standoff in the Philippine Senate ended Wednesday with the removal of an ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte as leader of the chamber, which will soon start the impeachment trial of his daughter, incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte. With 13 of 24 senators backing him, Sherwin Gatchalian, an ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., was elected Senate president. His rival, Alan Peter Cayetano, a key supporter of Duterte, conceded defeat. Both had claimed leadership of the Senate in the last two weeks based on contrasting legal interpretations of the quorum that led to their elections. … Control over the Senate is crucial. It’s expected to start the trial in July of the vice president, who was impeached by the House of Representatives last month over criminal charges, including unexplained wealth and publicly threatening to have Marcos assassinated.” (06/17/26)
- US DOJ accuses New York regime of unlawful Medicaid home care “scheme”
Source: Politico
“The Justice Department sued Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration Tuesday over its handling of a popular Medicaid home care program that enables over 200,000 New Yorkers to hire their own caregivers, court records show. The civil lawsuit accuses state Health Commissioner James McDonald and Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri of making false or misleading statements about the consolidation of Medicaid’s consumer-directed personal assistance program, or CDPAP, under financial services company Public Partnerships LLC. The DOJ’s complaint also accuses PPL of creating an ‘artificially attractive proposal’ to administer the Medicaid program through a ‘sham bid process,’ making false statements about its communications with state officials before winning the CDPAP contract and improperly inflating hourly billable rates upon taking over the program in 2025.” (06/16/26)
- Norway: Crown princess has “successful” lung transplant
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit has undergone a successful lung transplant and is recovering from the procedure, the royal household said in a statement on Wednesday. The 52-year-old wife of Crown Prince Haakon, the heir to the Norwegian throne, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis in 2018, a chronic disease that causes scarring in the lungs and leads to a reduced oxygen uptake. … Oslo University Hospital on June 5 said Mette-Marit had been placed on a waiting list for a lung transplant after a significant deterioration in her health that likely gave her only a year to live without the surgery.” (06/17/26)
- Oklahomans reject $15 minimum wage; Hern wins GOP primary
Source: United Press International
“Oklahoma voters have rejected raising the state’s nation-lowest minimum wage as several states held primaries on Tuesday. The Sooner State sets its minimum at $7.25, the federal minimum wage floor, tying it with 19 other mostly Republican-led or -leaning states for the nation’s lowest. Oklahoma raised its minimum wage to $7.25 in 2009 to comply with federal law. Voters were asked in State Question 832 whether Oklahoma employers must pay employees at least $15 per hour by 2029, putting the state above the median of $11.63 an hour but still below the highest-wage states. However, voters rejected the move. … Oklahoma voters also heavily backed Rep. Kevin Hern for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat held by Markwayne Mullin until March, when he was sworn in as secretary of Homeland Security, replacing Kristi Noem. … Meanwhile, the GOP gubernatorial primary appears to be heading to a runoff.” (06/17/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/06/17/Oklahoma-minimum-wage/8631781670598/
- US asks judge to halt first reparations program for black people in US
Source: The Hill
“The Justice Department is seeking to intervene in a federal lawsuit challenging a Chicago suburb’s housing reparations program for [b]lack residents, arguing it is ‘racially discriminatory’ and unconstitutional. The city council in Evanston, Ill., earmarked $10 million in revenue generated from cannabis sales taxes in 2019 for a first-of-its-kind local reparations program for [b]lack residents and their direct descendants who suffered housing discrimination due to the city’s policies and practices between 1919 and 1969. … The Justice Department has alleged that the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act because it is ‘not narrowly tailored to remediating specific, identified instances of past discrimination’ and public money is distributed solely based on race.” (06/17/26)
- Bipartisan JAWBONE Act Targets Government Censorship Threats
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille“When the state is so big and intrusive that people need its permission to do everything from building a house to merging businesses, it’s easy for the lines to blur between conversations in which government officials merely voice preferences and those in which they twist arms to get their way. That creates room for partisans to defend ‘jawboning’ — government bullying of private parties to do what officials won’t or can’t do themselves — as nothing more than casual chats. The best way to handle jawboning is to strip government of power so it has little coercive leverage, and we should always work to do just that. Another good approach, embodied in legislation cosponsored by Sens. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) and Ron Wyden (D–Ore.), is to make it easier to monitor government communications with private parties and to punish officials who cross the line.” (06/17/26)
https://reason.com/2026/06/17/bipartisan-jawbone-act-targets-government-censorship-threats/
- Taxing the rich won’t save Social Security
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) greeted the news that Elon Musk had become a trillionaire by — what else? — touting a plan to raise federal spending and taxes. Musk ‘pays the same amount into Social Security as someone making $184,500,’ Sanders tweeted. He said his bill would ‘end that absurdity,’ eliminate the program’s shortfall for 75 years and pay for an expansion of Social Security benefits. … Sanders’s idea is terrible. It would be a much larger and more harmful tax increase than its supporters let on and would further warp the federal government’s already perverse spending priorities. … The tax cap is there to keep benefits related to contributions. Musk won’t pay any more than someone making $184,500, but he also won’t get a bigger check than that person.” (06/17/26)
- Florida House Blocks DeSantis AI Bill of Rights
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“Not many people paid attention, but the 2026 Florida legislative session took an unusual turn with regard to AI regulation. The main issue isn’t whether AI should be regulated, but whether that should happen at the state or national level, or not at all. In Florida, lawmakers rejected Governor DeSantis’[s] ‘AI Bill of Rights.’ The Florida Senate supported DeSantis, but the House did not. When it comes to the Internet, how can a state control how its citizens use certain websites, especially when people can easily circumvent the rules? And I would posit that, even if one were in favor of regulating AI, we do not even know which regulation would be most prudent without inhibiting its positive impact on society. So far, it seems most regulatory proposals I have seen around the country, including in Florida, have been alarmist, reactionary, and driven by emotion rather than objective reasoning.” (06/17/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/florida-house-blocks-desantis-ai
- Finding American Integrity
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Joe Murphy“Last week, Dr. Steven Quay published recommendations to improve the integrity of the nation’s biosecurity research following the Covid-19 crisis. Dr. Quay is a prominent figure in the resistance to the Covid-19 origins coverup in addition to his medical and academic pedigrees. His recommendations complement those of James Erdman, an Office of the Director of National Intelligence and CIA professional, who articulated before Congress in April that the government’s biosecurity apparatus is convoluted, clumsy, and unaccountable. I echoed similar comments in a prior piece from my perspective as a military officer also involved in countering the coverup. In the vein of Dr. Quay and Mr. Erdman’s recommendations, I offer further comments towards America’s Covid-19 post-mortem.” (06/17/26)
- Look who’s losing it over Trump’s Iran deal
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jack Hunter“When Trump launched a war against Iran in late February, his MAGA movement suddenly became nearly indistinguishable from the neoconservative foreign policy Trump once abhorred. For nearly four months, Washington hawks like Senator Lindsey Graham and radio jock Mark Levin were riding high. But over time it became clearer that the president was looking for a way out and now the president has reportedly reached a memorandum of understanding with Iran to end the fighting, open the Strait of Hormuz, and to keep talking. Trump’s friends, who were hoping for Iranian capitulation and regime change, even if that meant indefinite bombing and blockading, aren’t very happy today.” (06/17/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/trump-criticized-iran-deal/
- The Musk Trillionaire Panic Is a Distraction
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Connor O’Keeffe“The eye-catching dollar amounts reported as the net worths of the richest people in the world, like Elon Musk, are not large piles of cash sitting around in bank accounts gathering dust. They are mostly the present value of the companies they own. It is not even possible to tax or confiscate these assets without destroying most or all of the initial value. Figures like Warren and Newsom know this. But the implication that the rich are simply ‘hoarding’ trillions of dollars of wealth is useful to them. It feeds the impression that all of our economic problems are, in essence, problems with the distribution of final consumable wealth.” (06/17/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/musk-trillionaire-panic-distraction
- Can Trust Exist Between the United States and Iran?
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Ted Snider“Iran was consistently and demonstrably in compliance with all their commitments under the agreement. It was Trump who broke faith, betrayed Iran and unilaterally and illegally pulled the United States out of the agreement. When, despite this history of nuclear negotiations with Trump, Iran returned to the negotiating table, the U.S. three times bombed Iran while negotiating. … Other negotiations with the U.S. have also taught Iran distrust.” (06/17/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/can-trust-exist-between-the-united-states-and-iran/
- The Trillion-Dollar Alarm Bell
Source: CounterPunch
by David S D’Amato“Last week’s SpaceX IPO made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, despite the fact that the company has lost tens of billions of dollars since it was founded almost 25 years ago. Shares of the company climbed steadily after markets closed on Friday, pushing its market cap to $2.2 trillion. The public conversation about Musk’s vast wealth often obscures the fact that he is actually a very fancy welfare recipient, having taken billions of dollars from the public coffers by even the most conservative measures.” (06/17/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/17/the-trillion-dollar-alarm-bell/
- Hey, POTUS, The Point of the War Was What Again?
Source: Antiwar.com
by David Stockman“Self-evidently, the reason for the attack is not that Iran was days, weeks or months away from a nuke: Even the Donald’s own former DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, had recently affirmed in Congressional testimony that the long-standing assessment of the US intelligence agencies that Iran had ceased all research and activities designed to weaponize HEUs was still the case, and with a high degree of confidence. Likewise, the January 2026 street uprisings throughout Iran, which had been the catalyst for war that Netanyahu had peddled to the SUCKER he finally found in the Oval Office, has long since become a moot point. … what the hell was the reason for going to war on February 28th when there was no bomb and, self-evidently, no prospect of a regime change uprising, as MOU item #3 makes clear as a bell?” (06/17/26)
- My 40 Year War on Psychiatry
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard“Forty years ago, I attended the annual meetings of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington and my sanity never recovered. Or at least that is what therapists presume based on my writings about their endless fabrication of bogus mental illnesses.” (06/16/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/06/16/my-40-year-war-on-psychiatry/
- Does Immigration Lead to “Democratic Drain” and Illiberalism in Native Countries?
Source: The UnPopulist
by Stan Veuger“A fascinating book by a political scientist says yes — but, in fact, there is strong evidence for the opposite case, too.” (06/16/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/does-immigration-lead-to-democratic
- The FDA Can’t Manage Its Own Risk Problem
Source: Independent Institute
by Raymond J March“Private companies—whether making medical goods or anything else — flourish or fail by assessing risk well. The FDA doesn’t face that discipline. The agency’s only real power is to remove products from the market or stop them from entering it. That is a blunt instrument applied to an incredibly dynamic market for medical goods. More importantly, accepting risk is a matter of personal preference and available alternatives — circumstances that differ for every patient and cannot be aggregated into a one-size-fits-all standard without discarding what makes medical treatment effective in the first place.” (06/16/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/16/fda-risk-problem/
- UK teen social media ban is anonymity-killer for adults
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
by Sarah McLaughlin“The United Kingdom is unveiling a grand new policy it claims will protect children on social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and X. The exact rules governing the ban will be released before its launch next year, but it will use age verification tools to restrict youth access to social media and other programs. But this new ‘under-16’ policy, like many others before it, is a misnomer. Because whether you’re 15 or 55, it will affect people regardless of age — and drain away all UK citizens’ ability to speak freely and anonymously online.” (06/16/26)
- “Dangerous” AI Models Are Coming No Matter What
Source: Wired
by Lily Hay Newman“The US government crackdown on Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 hides a glaring truth: AI models with advanced hacking capabilities will soon be the norm.” (06/16/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 06/17/26
Source: Washington Post
“Is there such a thing as too much empathy?” (06/17/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/is-there-such-a-thing-as-too-much-empathy/
- The Political Orphanage, 06/17/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“The Dark Side of Corporate Utopia: Pullman vs. Hershey.” (06/17/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/the-dark-side-of-corporate-utopia-pullman-vs-hershey
- Nonzero, 06/16/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“The US-China AI Race | Robert Wright & Ryan Fedasiuk.” (06/16/26)
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 06/16/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Iran Warns of Response to Israel’s Lebanon War, Trump: Syria Should Take Care of Hezbollah, and More.” (06/16/26)
- LPA Solidarity Stream, 06/16/26
Source: LP Alliance
“[W]e go LIVE with Iowa House candidate Marco Battaglia to talk about his contested campaign, why Republicans are running scared, and the phone call from RFK Jr. asking him to drop out.” (06/16/26)
- Law & Liberty Podcast, 06/16/26
Source: Law & Liberty
“Tinfoil Hats in the White House.” (06/16/26)
https://lawliberty.org/podcast/tinfoil-hats-in-the-white-house/